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From gear to Reputation grinds to non-combat pet collections, Blizzard seems keen to make players feel like they’re making progress. Unlike many competitors, however, they have yet to add the most significant, non-combat progression path: player housing.

What’s that mean? Well, we have no numbers, but I can tell you that threat is not something I have an issue with. I tank for people that far outgear me: the iLevel totals of their gear makes mine look anemic.

At first glance one might think that means I have problems holding aggro, but that’s not really the case. My GM is an amazing tank, and is about as well-geared as an early-T5 Warrior can be. When we race for aggro on the same mob such as for Gruul, he’s always asking the Hunters for misdirects while I stop using abilities and just auto-attack for long periods.

My aggro is continually through the roof. On a single target, no one in my guild can match what I put out (at least according to MY meter, and discounting the crit-happy dps at the beginning of a fight).

So… what’s the point?

Well, first of all, it isn’t a change I NEED as a Bear. As I said above, my threat is nothing shy of awe-inspiring so long as the dps isn’t retarded. With that said, anything that gives me threat independent of a hit roll is still a nice addition. So…maybe I’m wrong? Bleeds are already a staple of Druids both as Bears and as Cats, and this gives us a source of armor-ignoring damage that scales with our AP, hence also increasing our threat by default.

Thing is, the bleed damage from this ability is so minimal as it is that any increase from AP is likely to be equally unnoticable. From a PvE perspective, I just don’t see the point unless this is a really big increase.

Secondly, this should have been in place since day one. Rip scales with AP, why hasn’t Lacerate? Oversight? I don’t know but it’s silly that it’s taken this long to do it.

Third, could this be — as stated by several posters in the thread linked above — a PvP change intended to help Ferals in BGs and Arenas? Well that’s going to depend entirely on how well it scales.

If it scales like the [Idol of Ursoc] helps threat, we can safely pretend no change was made at all. On the other hand, if it scales well, perhaps the bleed will be significant and notable… perhaps a further change to the Idol is coming, but I doubt that. Mine is still in the bank collecting dust on the off chance something DOES change.

As a tank, I’m doubting I’ll see much of a change. Perhaps when I hit the arenas and spend more time trying to kill another player in Bear form this will become a staple of my arsenal rather than something I use only desperately to get a Rogue to waste Vanish. After all, PvP gear carries more AP with it than tanking gear typically does(blame Primal Fury for part of why we like AGI so much as bears).

On the bright side, at least some attention is being paid to Ferals, and even if it isn’t the right kind of buff, I seriously doubt this change will do any sort of harm in spite of some of the proclamations. Then again, maybe I’m wrong and maybe… just maybe… there’s more to this than we know.